Medico Ergonomics: A Human Centered Approach for Developing Smart Health Care Applications

The importance of technology for the medical sector is steadily growing. Potentials for rationalization that can help to overcome the problems of an ageing population exist. So far these expectations could not be fulfilled because some devices lack a sufficient usability concept and do not fulfill the user demands. This chapter will illustrate problems that can arise when developing user-centered and task-oriented “health care applications.” The “medico ergonomics approach” is introduced as a possibility to overcome these problems. The applicability of the developed approach is demonstrated with the help of a case study. Content of this case study is a usability context analysis of a web-based patient record. The case study shows the suitability of the medico ergonomic models to illustrate complex interrelations of patient treatment. Based on these results requirements are defined and task-supporting functions are derived. The models support the development of a “common ground of understanding” between the potential user and the developers of the product. This is a crucial condition for developing integrated and utilizable (software) products and therewith for developing ergonomic working systems.